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Your Rights

The Institute for Free Speech defends your First Amendment right to freedom of speech, press, assembly, and petition.

Making your voice heard in government involves more than voting on Election Day. First Amendment rights empower you to hold your representatives accountable year-round. You have the right to write a letter to your member of Congress advocating better government policies, to start a Facebook group about politics, and to organize a rally or protest. The First Amendment enables you to have your say about policy and politics. These fundamental liberties – the right to free speech, the right to peaceably assemble, the right to free press, and the right to petition your government – are essential to preserving a healthy democracy.

Unfortunately, government continually infringes on your cherished rights. Powerful politicians propose laws that seek to restrict their critics and challengers. These laws limit your ability to speak about candidates and government, impose heavy burdens on your right to associate, and violate your privacy when you seek to get involved in elections or public policy.

As a result, there are more laws on the books regulating political speech today than ever before – despite the First Amendment’s guarantee that “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech.”

The Institute for Free Speech is here to fight back for you. We are dedicated to upholding your right to advocate for your beliefs. This includes the right to promote your views, the right to associate privately with others in support of a cause you care about, and the right to freely support candidates and groups of your choice.

We don’t just believe in these principles, we put them into action. We represent clients whose First Amendment rights have been violated. We sound the alarm bell when new government proposals threaten your free speech. Our analysis, research, and media outreach provides you, and others like you, the ammunition to fight for your rights.

We’ve defended everyday Americans, who have run afoul of the law simply for exercising their First Amendment rights. Our clients only “crimes” were such commonplace actions as talking to legislators, spending a few hundred dollars to publish a policy paper, or wanting to join an organization without the government publishing their private information online. They’ve gotten in trouble for basic First Amendment activity, like putting up a political sign in their yard and communicating with neighbors about politics over the internet.

Driven by these stories, all of our work has one fundamental goal: We will protect your First Amendment rights – no matter what you believe or who you are. In a democracy, free speech is how we improve our government and our society. It protects us from being punished for our beliefs and empowers us to persuade others to our views. It is every American’s constitutional right.

If you agree with us that free speech is essential, that government should not restrict its critics, and that everyone has the right to support causes they believe in free of government interference, then you should join us in the fight to save the First Amendment from overreaching politicians and bureaucrats. The time to reclaim our liberty is now.